Today is another heavy day of the politics and policy of technology. There is too much to cover again today, so there will be more here than usual, with still some things to talk about another day.
President Trump Attempts to Ban Tik Tok and WeChat
On Thursday night US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that aims to ban Tik Tok and WeChat. The orders work by banning US companies from conducting transactions with the apps, or the companies that own those apps, and are due to take effect on September 20th. It is not clear if these executive orders are legal, and are sure to be challenged in court. The orders are also vague enough that it appears that US companies will not be allowed to do business with any aspect of the parent companies. This is especially notable for WeChat, which is owned by Tencent Inc. Tencent has ownership stakes in hundreds of companies with US operations, and this could have serious consequences for those American companies. For example, Tencent owns popular games such as League of Legends, and has a significant stake in Epic Games, maker of Fortnite.
These actions come less than 2 months after users of Tik Tok used the platform to encourage people to register for a Trump campaign rally in Tulsa, where the campaign boasted having 1 million people registered, and ended up with roughly 6,700 people attending.
Microsoft and Apple confirm Xbox Game Streaming is Blocked by App Store Policies
Fresh off of Tim Cook appearing in front of the US congress answering questions about Apple’s App store policies, it has been confirmed by both Apple and Microsoft that Microsoft’s cloud gaming service that officially launches on September 15 will not be available on iOS and iPadOS devices due to Apple App Store policies. Apple says it will not allow the service because it cannot individually review each game on the service to ensure it meets App store policies. Apple also cites the App store rules about apps being unable to run “remote code or apps.” This is the first official confirmation from Apple on the policy, and is almost certainly the reason that Google’s Stadia cloud gaming service is also unavailable.
This is widely viewed as an anti-competitive move from Apple, as they have their own Apple Arcade game service, as well as wanting to take 30% from every purchase. It is becoming clear that Apple is eventually going to be forced to change some of it’s app store policies, either voluntarily before any legal challenge, or as the result of one.
Facebook Employees Allegedly Removes “Strikes” Against Conservative Pages
It is being alleged that some employees at Facebook have removed misinformation “strikes” against some pages run by conservatives. Facebook uses 3rd party fact checkers to determine if content posted on Facebook is misinformation, misleading, or deceptive, and it is believed that some strikes against these pages are being removed.
If this is true, it shows Facebook circumventing it’s own policies, and taking steps to actually allow false information and deception to continue to spread on it’s platform. This comes after the company has faced sweeping criticism for not taking more action against content that is provably false on it’s platform. The company has begun to take small steps to correct this as referenced in the next article, but this shows that it still has a long way to go.
Twitter and Facebook remove Trump Campaign Video Containing COVID-19 Misinformation
The Trump Campaign Posted a video to Twitter and Facebook that claimed that children were “virtually immune” to COVID-19. This is demonstrably false, and the social media companies took action. Twitter restricted the Trump Campaign account from posting new tweets until the video was deleted, and Facebook proactively deleted the video themselves.
Phil Schiller “Stepping Down” from role as Apple VP of Marketing
Phil Schiller, who has been with Apple since 1987, is stepping down from his role of VP of Marketing. He is being named an “Apple Fellow” which is a title given to foundational employees of the company who no longer have any significant responsibilities. Schiller will apparently still oversee the App Store as well as Apple Events.
This is the latest in a number of Executive team changes for Apple over the last couple years, as Tim Cook reshapes Apple in his vision. Apple marketing is a very unique position, as Apple more than any company markets their suite of products as a lifestyle experience aimed at premium hardware products to sell a software package that keeps users in the ecosystem. It will be interesting to see if this leads to a slightly new direction, of if the company continues business as usual.
Samsung Extends Software Support for Various Smartphones
At the end of it’s Unpacked event this week, Samsung made an important software announcement for it’s phones. The company has committed to three Android version updates for it’s Galaxy S, Galaxy Note, and Galaxy Z lines of phones, as well as select models of the Galaxy A series on a case by case basis. Previously, Samsung provided two Android version updates. This change is retroactive to the Galaxy S10, meaning that the 2019 Galaxy S10, Note 10, and Fold phones which launched on Android 9 Pie should get updated through Android 12 instead of 11, and this year’s phones launching on Android 10 will see updates until Android 13.
As phones get more expensive, especially at the high end, software support becomes very important. With only two years of Android updates usually after around 2.5 years Samsung phones fell behind in version updates compared to newer phones. This will give them one more year of platform updates, which should help their longevity. With the Pixel line also promising 3 years of updates, the hope is that is becomes more normal. It has been repoted in the past that Qualcomm, the maker of the majority of smartphone processors in Android phones had been one of the biggest issues here, not providing drivers and code to support older processors on newer Android versions, but with Samsung, the largest Android OEM, and Google, the company who makes Android, getting 3 years of updates on their phones, I hope this trend spreads to more device manufacturers, and we see more support across the board.
Apple still maintains a comfortable lead in software support with 2015’s iPhone 6s seeing an update to iOS 14 a full 5 years after launch.